Mystery shopping is one of the methods of collecting information in the framework of marketing research aimed at obtaining a certain consumer experience in the process of purchasing a product or service. This method can be used not only to verify compliance with the customer service standards adopted in the company but also to conduct trade audits, the purpose of which may be to assess the external and internal state of retail premises (zones), as well as to assess the quality of activities and merchandising work.
A distinctive feature of mystery shopping solution methods is that specially hired people are used for checking and collecting data – mystery shoppers. Mystery shoppers behave completely naturally and outwardly do not differ in any way from ordinary buyers or clients. As a rule, they are not employees of the audited companies and are not familiar with the working personnel. The concept of “mystery shopper” also has a list of the most common synonyms: mystery shopper, imaginary shopper, hidden shopper, secret shopper, anonymous shopper, control client.
Why and who needs mystery shoppers
Secret checks are frequently organized by large corporations, such as retail chains, restaurants, and movie theaters. Executives and managers are interested in how their employees treat customers if services are given, and how employees behave in general when they are not overseen by their superiors.
Who can become a mystery shopper
As a matter of fact, anyone can work as a mystery shopper. But depending on the specific conditions, the customer may put forward some requirements for the “spy”. For example, if the customer is a children’s store, then most likely they will need women as mystery shoppers. There are often prerequisites for mystery shoppers in terms of age or understanding of a certain issue; for example, knowledge of household appliances is required.
To successfully work as a mystery shopper, you need certain psychological qualities. To begin with, it is sociability, as well as the lack of any constraints or anxiety in carrying out the prescribed duty. It’s not necessary to have acting talent, but the ability to believably play the role of a cheeky customer at a bank or a picky customer at an electronics store will only increase your order. It is also very necessary to have an excellent memory and the ability to get out of any situation.
Specialized services can help you obtain work as a mystery shopper. There are very, very many of them now. Contracting companies hire agencies to act as middlemen between them and mystery shoppers, or performers. Small businesses will occasionally advertise directly for mystery shoppers, although this is quite uncommon.
How does a mystery shopper inspect the establishment?
Before checking, the mystery shopper is given instructions on what should happen at the outlet and how it should happen. The extent to which these instructions are detailed is determined by the consumer. Some limit themselves to general instructions, such as “the seller must serve you well and politely”, but most still prefer to give detailed instructions, up to the order in which the goods should be placed on the shelves, how clean the floor should be and with what phrase the seller should start a conversation with a client. The mystery shopper’s job is to recall everything and write it down inconspicuously so that the collected information can be given to the consumer.
In addition, the instructions will specify how the mystery shopper should act. This might be a list of questions he should ask an institution employee or a broad model of his behavior. Customers that are rude or “annoying” are sometimes assigned. Mystery shoppers in order to see how employees treat them.
Sometimes mystery shoppers are tasked with chores. That demands a bit of ingenuity on their part. You should, for example, check if the guard has an alcoholic odor. It is clearly not possible to sniff the guard just like that, so the mystery shopper has to ask him any question, and then get as close as possible, pretending that he did not hear the answer. Before going to check, the mystery shopper must study all the instructions well, since he cannot constantly peep at the cheat sheet – so he can be calculated.
How to recognize a mystery shopper
Of course, there is no 100% formula. Everything will be determined by the mystery shopper’s experience. If a mystery shopper first comes out for inspection and is nervous about this. Then it is likely that he will behave unnaturally – drop the recorder, look around, ask too suspicious questions. In a word, give himself out. If the seller notices that the visitor walks around the store for a long time, carefully examines everything, and marks something in his notebook, it is highly likely that he is in front of him a secret shopper. But it’s tough to say for sure: what if it’s just a meticulous customer. Who wants to look over everything before making a purchase?
An expert mystery shopper will act and behave like a normal shopper, making identification exceedingly difficult. Therefore, instead of looking closely at each client and wondering who the mystery shopper is, it is better to serve everyone with high quality. The institution’s service will then be evaluated at a high level at all times.
Example of mystery shopping
This leads to working under pressure, and as a consequence, mistakes could be made. There is no time left to register or process complaints, which is critical to improving customer service. In his job as a cleaner, he observed. That the available time to clean all rooms is not enough to do it properly. Mystery shopping enabled James Cooper to see the business from a different angle. Namely the point of view of a customer.
He noticed that the rooms are not optimally clean, which is unnecessary and could come at a cost of customers. He additionally argued that the front office representatives are not able to sell the company’s brand as it is supposed to because of the working pressure.
At this point, he will share his findings with executive managers who are next responsible for designing a new way of running the business that will help the organization become competitive again. Mystery shopping helped the organization to obtain these critical insights which will help the organization to grow.
